The Changeling (Star Trek: The Original Series)

"The Changeling"
The Original Series episode
Kirk asks Nomad of its "origin".
Episode no.	Episode 32
Directed by	Marc Daniels
Written by	John Meredyth Lucas
Production code	037
Original air date	September 29, 1967
Guest stars
Blaisdell Makee Arnold Lessing Vic Perrin Eddie Paskey William Blackburn Meade Martin Roger Holloway Frank da Vinci Jay Jones
Episode chronology
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List of Star Trek: The Original Series episodes

"The Changeling" is a season two episode of Star Trek: The Original Series, first broadcast on September 29, 1967 and repeated May 17, 1968. It is episode #32, production #37 and was written by John Meredyth Lucas, and directed by Marc Daniels.

The crew of the USS Enterprise deals with an indestructible planet-destroying space probe. The plot contains obvious similarities to the later 1979 Star Trek film.^[1] This episode is one of only a handful in the original series that take place entirely aboard the Enterprise. The others include "Journey to Babel", "Charlie X", "Elaan of Troyius", "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield", "Is There in Truth No Beauty?", and "The Immunity Syndrome".

Plot

Around stardate 3541.9, the starship USS Enterprise, under the command of Captain James T. Kirk, investigates a distress call from the Malurian star system. Upon arrival, Spock reports that all life in the system has been destroyed and Malur, a world with a recorded population of 4 billion, is now devoid of life, including the Federation science team that was on the planet.

Suddenly, the Enterprise's shields activate when a meter-long cylindrical object attacks the ship with an energy bolt equivalent to the strength of 90 photon torpedoes. Kirk orders return fire, but the ship's weapon energy is simply absorbed by the object. Kirk then transmits a hail and the object stops firing. Curiously, the object responds and requests in-person communication with the Captain, and allows itself to be beamed aboard the ship.

Once on board, the object identifies itself as a space probe named Nomad, and oddly refers to Captain Kirk as "the Creator". Checking historical records, Mr. Spock finds information that the Nomad space probe was launched from Earth during the early 21st Century; its mission was to explore the galaxy, just like the Enterprise.

Nomad mistakenly believes that Captain Kirk is actually Dr. Jackson Roykirk, the original scientist who created it. Nomad however, corrects Mr. Spock by saying that its mission is to "find and sterilize imperfection". Since Nomad's definition of imperfect includes all living things, it travels from world to world, killing everything and everyone. Though repulsed by the machine's words, Kirk decides to play along with Nomad's mistake, and tells Nomad not to "sterilize" anything further, which for now, it obeys.

Nomad has powerful abilities, which the crew discovers when Kirk leaves Nomad to be watched by Lt. Singh. However, Nomad leaves to investigate singing it overhears on the intercom and discovers the source: Lt. Uhura. Nomad asks Uhura about this strange form of communication. When Uhura responds she's singing music, Nomad asks her to "think about music" while it probes her mind, but instead erases her memory. When Mr. Scott tries to intervene, Nomad simply kills him. Spock rebukes Nomad for harming Uhura; Nomad retorts that she is "a mass of conflicting impulses". Kirk is very disgusted over what has just happened, but Nomad offers to "repair the Scott unit", claiming that it was only acting in self-defense. In a display of its powers, Nomad returns Scotty to life. Kirk then orders Nomad to repair Uhura, which it claims it cannot do since it has erased her "knowledge banks". A nurse looks her over. Spock suggests that if there's no damage to her brain, she can be re-educated. There are sufficient tapes in the computer library to do this, and Chapel is assigned to work with Uhura.

Nomad is then escorted to a holding area where Spock attempts to study it further, Nomad noting that Spock is the only "well-organized" living being on the Enterprise. Spock is not able to learn full details from his scans, and therefore resorts to a mind meld with the machine. (Just how Spock is able to mind meld with a machine is uncertain). Spock discovers that Nomad collided with an alien probe of immense power called Tan Ru,^[2] designed to obtain and sterilize soil samples from other planets. The collision severely damaged both probes, and during the accident the programming of both machines somehow combined. Nomad confused Tan Ru's mission directives, interpreting them to mean "sterilize imperfections". Furthermore, the merging of the two probes somehow imbued Nomad with Tan Ru's vast, almost God-like, powers—powers strong enough to destroy the life of entire solar systems. Spock is disturbed by the experience of the 'machine-to-Vulcan' mind meld, so much so that Kirk is forced to pull him away when he starts to exhibit the coldness of Nomad's logic.

Kirk now realizes Nomad is a device completely without conscience that is capable of wiping out entire solar systems in the blink of an eye, and there seems to be no way to stop it. All Kirk can do is wait and once again confines Nomad to the holding area. Nomad however has other plans, and it passes right through the security field, killing two guards who attempt to stop it. Nomad then makes its way to the engine room where it improves the efficiency of the ship's engines 57% by increasing the matter-antimatter reaction rate. Kirk orders Nomad to reverse the changes, as the Enterprise cannot handle the stress.

Kirk confronts Nomad, telling it that its sterilization of biological units is illogical, since the creator is a biological unit. Kirk tries to get the probe to return to the holding cell, but it kills the two security guards sent to escort it. Nomad then heads to sickbay and examines Kirk's medical files. Nurse Chapel is attacked when she tries to stop it. Nomad then decides to shut down all life support systems throughout the ship to destroy the imperfect units that "infest" the Enterprise.

Kirk again confronts Nomad and questions its logic of destroying imperfect beings. Kirk tells Nomad that Nomad itself has made a mistake, something only an imperfect being can do. He tells Nomad that its creator is Jackson Roykirk, not himself, and that Nomad is in error. Kirk further notes that Nomad's failure to discover its first error is a second error and further evidence of its imperfection. Finally, Kirk points out that Nomad's delayed immediate-execution in light of these errors is a third error. Realizing the implications of Kirk's reasoning, Nomad is caught in a logic loop, and begins to execute its primary function on itself. The machine begins self-destruction, shaking about in place instead of steadily hovering, its simulated voice rising in pitch. The ultra-logical Mr. Spock, who has been watching this confrontation, compliments Kirk, saying: "Your logic is impeccable, Captain. We are in grave danger." At the last moment, Kirk has Nomad rushed to the transporter room and beamed into space. Seconds after transport an explosion is detected near the Enterprise and Nomad is no more.

Fortieth anniversary remastering

This episode was remastered in 2006 and aired February 2, 2008 as part of the remastered Original Series. It was preceded a week earlier by the remastered "The Enemy Within" and followed a week later by the remastered "The Ultimate Computer". Aside from remastered video and audio, and the all-CGI animation of the USS Enterprise that is standard among the revisions, specific changes to this episode also include:

• Nomad's energy bolts have been changed to green instead of blue and given a shimmering effect. Likewise the Enterprise torpedo fire was redone in CGI.
• Just before Nomad explodes, a small white dot is seen moving through space.
• The destruction of Nomad has been made more dramatic with a cleaned-up flash of light followed by an expanding dispersion of energy.

Trivia

A scientist named Jackson Roykirk appeared on the Team Knight Rider episode titled Apocalypse Maybe.^[3][4]

References

1. ^ James Berardinelli (1996). "Review: Star Trek: The Motion Picture". http://www.reelviews.net/movies/s/st1.html. Retrieved 2008-01-31. 
2. ^ [1]
3. ^ http://www.poobala.com/standteam.html
4. ^ http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Jackson_Roykirk

External links

• The Changeling at StarTrek.com
• The Changeling at the Internet Movie Database
• "The Changeling" at TV.com
• Review of "The Changeling" 40th Anniversary re-master at TrekMovie.com
• The Changeling at Memory Alpha (a Star Trek wiki)